French-Speaking Contigent Gains More Political Power

Faced with an increasingly violent separatist
movement in the predominantly French province of Quebec, Trudeau
introduced the Official Languages Bill, which encouraged bilingualism in
the federal government; he also gave an economic portfolio to a
French-speaking minister, Jean Chrétien. Both measures increased
the power of French-speaking politicians in the federal government.

In 1976, the Parti Québécois (PQ)
won the provincial Quebec elections, and René Lévesque
became premier. The Quebec government passed Bill 101 in 1977, which
established numerous rules promoting the French-speaking culture; for
example, only French was to be used for commercial signs and for most
public school instruction. Many of Bill 101's provisions have since been
amended, striking more of a compromise; commercial signs, for example, may
now be in French and English, provided that the French lettering is twice
the size of the English. Quebec held a referendum in May 1980 on whether
it should seek independence from Canada; it was defeated by 60% of the
voters.

Resolving a dispute that had occupied Trudeau
since the beginning of his tenure, Queen Elizabeth II signed the
Constitution Act (also called the Canada Act) in Ottawa on April 17, 1982,
thereby cutting the last legal tie between Canada and Britain. The
constitution retains Queen Elizabeth as queen of Canada and keeps Canada's
membership in the Commonwealth. This constitution was accepted by every
province except Quebec.